Record tape supply means



July 5, 1960 c. B. TRIMBLE RECORD TAPE SUPPLY MEANS Original Filed Sept.30, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG.I

INVENTOR GEBERN B.TRIMBLE HIS ATTORNEYS y 1960 c. B. TRIMB LE 2,943,853

' RECORD TAPE SUPPLY MEANS Original Filed Sept. 30, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet2 FIG. 2

INVENTOR GEBERN a. TRIMBLE HIS ATTORNEYS United States Patent RECORDTAPE SUPPLY MEANS Cebern B. Trimble, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to TheNational Cash Register Company, Dayton, Ohio, a cor-.

poration of Maryland Original application Sept. 30, 1954, SenNo.459,476, new Patent No. 2,864,609, dated Dec. 16, 1958. DlVlded and thisapplication Aug. 1, 1957, Ser. No. 675,674

2 Claims. (Cl. 242-55.18)

storing information for future use.

Customarily, the tape to be used in tape-processing equipment will havebeen previously. stored in a device which enables the tape to be fed tothe tape-processing equipment as required. A need, therefore, exists fora simple, effective, and inexpensive tape supply means which I,

is self-feeding and self-regulating, and which feeds the tape out to thetape-processing equipment in the same relative order in which data waspreviously recorded on the tape, to eliminate the necessity of utilizingdata from the tape in an order which is opposite to the order in whichit was recorded.

With the foregoing in mind, among the objects of the present inventionare the following: the provision of record tape supply means which issimple and inexpensive to fabricate, while being at the same time ruggedin construction; the provision of such apparatus in which the tape isstored in the form of a roll, and in which feeding takes place from theinside of said roll; the provision of such apparatus in which inertiaefiects due tostarting and stopping are minimized; and the provision ofsuch apparatus which is self-feeding and self-regulating.

The objects of the invention are accomplished by a tape-supplying meansin the form of apparatus for driving a roll of record tape, or at leastsupplying the tape for feeding purposes. The supplying means isself-feeding when a tension is established in the tape by, for example,the application of a very slight drawing force to the tape, but isrelaxed or non-feeding in the absence of the tension or slight drawingforce. This feed is effected from the inside of the roll, therebyenabling entries on, the tape to be read in the same order in which theywere made without rewinding the tape, once it is removed from themachine in the form of a record. The roll is mounted about a pluralityof shoes which are adjustable and which outline a core for accommodatingthe hollow interior of the roll. A plurality of driving rollers, usuallyin the form of cylinders having a rubber or felt covering to increasethe surface friction, are interspersed among the shoes along the coreoutline, so that the rollers engage the innermost layer of tape and urgeit in a direction to unwind it from the record roll. The inner end ofthe tape is extended about a portion of the circumference of one of thedriver rolls and is directed generally inwardly of the record roll to anexit roller, which serves as a guide for the tape leaving the region ofthe supplying means. The driving rollers are normally continuouslyPatented 'July 1960 Wigs . 2 rotating but, in the absence of a drawingforce applied to the end of the tape, do not cause the tape to beunwound because of slippage between the. driving rollers and theinnermost layer of tape of the record roll. However, when a drawingforce or tension' is applied to the end of the tape being removed fromthe record roll, as,

-for. example, by the driving'capstan, tensioning of the innermostlayer'causes the tape to hug the emerging driv ing roller more tightly,so thatsuiiicient frictional engagement is established to cause theemerging roller to drive the tape to feed the tape from the roll. Thisdriving engagemen't pulls the innermost layer of tape more tightlyagainst the shoe adjacent to' the emerging driving roller andconsequently establishes driving engagement with a further one of thedriving rollers, the tightening of the innermost layer of tape againstthe driving rollers being successive in a progressive manner evidencedby the sec- 0nd, third, and fourth inner layers of the tape (and so on)being drawn inwardly further to tighten the innermost layer of the tapeagainst the shoes and the driving rollers as the tape is unwound.

The foregoing outlined features and objects ,of the invention, alongwith others appearing hereinafter, will become more apparent from areading of the following detailed description of the invention whenviewed in the light of the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is an isometric view of the tape supply means of the presentinvention, shown in association with a tapeprocessing device, the latterbeing shown only in part.

Fig. 2 is a view in plan of the tape supply means including a roll oftape adapted to be unreeled from the inside.

The novel tape supply means of the present invention will normally beassociated with some form of tape-proc- 1 be understood, however, thatthe novel tape supply means could be used with many other types oftape-processing devices. Referring now to the drawings, and particularlyto Fig. 1, there is shown a record tape 15 of any suitable type, such asmagnetic tape or perforated tape, emerging from the inside of the recordroll 16, supported on a plate 17, in turn supported by a frame 18. Thetape 15 passes between an idler 19 and a spring clip 20, which merelyguide the tape from a vertical path to a horizontal path. The tape 15 isdriven'into, an input tape loop box ,21 by a continuously-rotating inputtape loop driving capstanZZ, against which the tape. is resilientlypressed by a roller 23 under spring pressure from a toggle mech-' anism24. The lowermost position 15' of the tape loop contained in the box 21is illustrated slightly above the level of a light beam passing from alight source (not shown) to a photocell located within a shield housing31.. When the tape loop lengthens to interrupt the light beam from thelight source, a brake coil 32 of a first auxiliary brake 33 is energizedto pull its armature 34 down-. wardly against the tape 15 and press thetape against the brake pole piece, thereby arresting the tape motion,the tape slipping with respect to the continuously-rotating drivingcapstanZZ.

A main driving capstan, a reading station, anda high-, speed brake, noneof which are shown herein, cooperate to read the record tape in themanner described in the. previously-cited United Statespatentapplication, Serial No. 459,476. The main driving capstan engagesthe tape. 15 and drives it from the input tape loop box zltlirouglg'er'rnost portion of the l readingstation.

the reading station. When the lower portion 15 of the tape loop disposedin the input loop box 21 is raised or removed from the path of thepreviously-mentioned light beam by the rnain driving capstan, thephotocell in the housing 31' is again excited to relieve thepowe'r,applied to the brake coil '32., The armature 34. then applies only aslight drag to the tape under. the pressure of a chatter-eliminatingspring 46 of the first auxiliary brake,

' permitting'the tape loop 'inthe box 21, tobe'extended or lengthened bydriving engagement. between the' input loop driving'capstan 2'2 and thetape. ..The lengthening and shortening of the loop in the input looplbox21 is somewhat intermittent in the well known' fhun tiri'g fashion.Under these circumstances, the input tapeloop driving capstan 22 isresponsible only .for driving the tape 15 from the roll 16 e'ifectivelyto the lowermost point 1 5' of the loop in the input tape loop box, andthe maindriving capstan only drives the tape from the lowoop in the box21 through the In Fig. 2 is illustrated the tape-supplying mechanism,which is shown generally in Fig. 1. This mechanism not .only is capableof supplying tape via a tape loop, as

shown in Fig. 1, but also is suitable for introducing tape directly tothe reading station or other mechanism of a tape-processing device. Atape-feeding driver 134 and a pair of auxiliary drivers 135 and 136are'supported above the plate 17 .'(Fig. 1) in spaced-apart relation.The drivers are of the roller type, being cylinders preferably coveredwith a layer of rubber or'other friction material'to enable effectiveengagement with the innermost layer of tape 16' of the tape roll 16. Thedrivers are continuouslyrotating, being coupled together by a. 7 drivingbelt 137 located beneath the plate 17 and above the plate 138 (Fig. l);7

A, plurality of arcuate shoes, herein represented as while :supplyingtape from the inside of the roll in,re-

establish driving engagement with the auxiliary driver 135. The pressureof the innermost layer of the roll against the drivers 134, .135, and136 causes the drivers to 'feed the tape to unwind it from the roll.The'pull exerted by the driver 135 in turn draws the next innermostlayer of tape on the roll .16 inwardly to increase the tape pressureeifective against the tape-feeding driver 134, the increased effectivedriving engagement being successively introduced to'jauxiliary drivers136' and. 135

by the second-innermost layer'oftape on the roll 16.1 This process iscontinued, causing-progressive layers to 1 from the tape feed .on thehigh-speedstarting and stop;

ping of the tape. The tape-supplying means, which is power-operated, isimmediatelyresponsive to the call for tape in automatically unwindingtape from the reel. The tension established in the tape (by theauxiliary driving capstan 22 in the apparatus shown in Fig. 1, or by themain driving capstan if'the auxiliary capstan 22 is not employed) needonly be suflicient to eliminate the slack in the tape, thereby drawingit into engagement with the tape-feeding driver 134. In the alternative,.a signal or call for tape could result in the pressure of a finger or 7pressure roller against the tape-feeding driver 134 to thethreeshoes'139, 140, and 141,are also supported from the plate 17 inmutually-spacedep'art relation to outline a core adapted to accommodatethe roll of record tape '16. Theshoes'include inwardly-protruding lugsor projections 142, each slotted 'to accommodate adjusting provide thedriving engagement between the tape and-the driver 134.

While the form of invention illustrated and described herein isadmirably adapted to fulfill the objects aforescrews 143. Thefshoes maybe movedfr'adiallyto hold the roll of record tape with its innermostlayer 16' nora mally out of driving engagement with the drivers 134,135, and13'6. The "drivers arearranged with respect to the shoes in sucha way that aportion of the periphery of each is, respectively, locatedwithin segments of the circular core defined by lines, such as thebroken line 150, extending between opposed shoe extremities. Theemerging tape extends over a portion of the periphery of thetape-feeding driver '134'and is directed inwardly of the core outlineto'an exit roller 144, obliquely located with respect to the planeof thetape roll 16, with its innermost end secured to an upright post 145,projecting out of the plate 17, by means of 'a screw 146.

The exit roller 144 merely serves as a guide to direct the tapeoutwardly of the plane of the. roller 16, which direction (looking atFig. 1) is vertical, to the idler '19. In order to remove the tape fromthe roll, a slight drawing force is applied to'the emergirigtape,elTective in the'dire'ction of unwinding, to tension the tape or take upthe slack in the tape upto the point of its engagement with thetape-feeding driver 134, so that the tape is brought into drivingengagement with a portion of the periphery of the tape-feeding driver134, which driver then starts the tape feeding from the roll, Oncefeeding engagement is established withthe driver 134, the innermostlayer of tape 16 is brought to bear against theshoes. 140 and.141Ja'ndtends to occupy a position similar to line 150. This will forcethe tape into engagement with the 'periphery of the driver 136, the tape1 being tafitly drawn between the arcuate shoes 140 and 141m occupy aposition'generally indicated'by the dotted line 147.'Up'O!1"CStab1iShfl16I1t of driving engagement with the auxiliary;driver I36, the tape. is. causedto be' tantlyf'drawn between-the'areuate shoes 139 and 140 to said, it is'to be understood that'it isnot intended to confine the invention to the form or embodimentdisclosed herein, for it is susceptible of embodiment in various otherforms.

What is claimed is:

1. In a tape-feeding apparatus, a tapesupply device adapted to unreeltape from the inside of a tape storage roll in response to atape-required signal applied to the' tape and effective to unreel tapefrom the roll, comprising a planar support for the roll to be unwound, aplu rality of arcuate shoes extending outwardly of the sup port'inspaced-apart relation to outline a circular core for accommodating thetape roll, 'a plurality'of driving eapstans respectively interspersedwith the shoes Within the core outline, said capstans respectivelyhaving those portions of their peripheries closest to the circumferenceof the circular core lying outwardly of lines defined by 7 chords of thecircular core extending betweenopposed edges of the shoes and lyinginwardly of the circumference of the core, means for guiding tapeoutwardly from the roll interior over one of the driving capstans, and

means for imparting continuous rotation to the driving capstans wherebyin the absence of the tape-required signal the innermost layer of tapeexpands outwardly due to the resiliencyfof'the tape in the roll andmoves out of driving engagement with the capstans, whereas, .in responseto a tape-required signal, successively outwardly positioned layers ofthe tape, including the innermost .layer, contract toward theconfiguration of thechords between opposed edges of the shoes toincrease the driving engagement between the capstans and the innermostlayer. 7 2. In a tape-feeding apparatus, a tape supply device adapted tounreel tape from the inside of'a tape storage roll in response to aforce applied to the emerging tape,

comprising, in combination, aplanar support for the roll to be unwound;a plurality of arcuate shoes mounted onthe support to form a circularcore having peripheral A further advantage offered by gaps, said corebeing capable of accommodating the tape roll; a plurality of drivingcapstans positioned in the gaps and so arranged with respect to thearcuate shoes that the peripheries of the capstans are spaced inwardlyfrom the circular outline of the core, but are located outwardly of astraight line extending between adjacent ends of adjacent shoes, so thatwhen the tape of the roll is not taut and follows the circular coreoutline it does not contact the capstans, but when it is drawn tauttoward a straight line between adjacent ends of adjacent shoes,it'contacts the capstans; and means for imparting continuous rotation tothe capstans, so that the tape is fed thereby whenever it is broughtinto contact with the capstans by being drawn taut by the force appliedto the emerging tape.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS994,044 Uebelmesser May 30, 1911 1,505,389 Herm Aug. 19, 1924 101,602,257 Shirlow et a1 Oct. 5, 1926 1,604,389 Cohn Oct. 26, 19262,464,965 Chemel Mar. 22, 1949

